Cause and Effect
by Catherine4
Summary: On an away mission gone wrong, Tom and the Delta flyer find themselves stranded in another time and place. Meanwhile, B'Elanna tries to come to terms with her feelings and Seven takes further steps towards becoming human.


**AN:** This is my first voyager fic so please be gentle. None of the characters are mine! I have ideas for this fic, but I'm not too familiar with all the technical stuff. So if it's all a bit off, please forgive me!

_Prologue_

"Mr. Paris, we're loosing power." Tuvok's typically calm and controlled voice was barely audible over the warning sirens and minor explosions that could be heard throughout the cock pit.

Smoke rose up in Tom's face and he squinted to get a good view of the controls.

"Voyager to Delta Flyer, can you hear me?" Janeway's voice echoed from no where.

"Captain, we've lost almost 70 percent of our overall power. Shields are down, so is propulsion and we lost any weaponry we had after that last attack." Tuvok's voice remained level, but there was still an urgency in the way we spoke.

"Tom, how are the engines faring?"

It took Tom a moment to snap out of his daze. "Not good, but I think I may know a way to get them back online before that alien ship circles again."

"No way, I can't risk loosing contact with you. We're detecting some strange anomalies not far from your location. Prepare to beam aboard."

"No!" Tom stopped abruptly and lowered his voice. "Captain, I don't want to loose the flyer. I think I can…"

"Lieutenant Paris." Janeway's voice was stern and forceful. "You will leave the flyer and we will attempt to lock on a transporter beam. It's far too risky for you to remain aboard."

"Dammit!" Tom banged his fists on the consol as smoke continued to engulf the room. A generator behind him sparked and briefly lit up the room as the overhead lights flickered.

"She's right Mr. Paris. We cannot risk our safety."

Tom sighed deeply. He knew he was right. But he'd put so much hard work into building this craft, he didn't want to let it go without a fight. Just then he got an idea. He slammed the consol infront of him again only this time it was not out of anger, but a renewed vigour.

"I'll be right back, I've had an idea."

He ignored Tuvok's shouts and raced down to the main control room, leaving his colleague to attempt to navigate the failing ship through the minefield of strange spacial occurrences with Voyager in hot pursuit.

He was not an engineer. He wished for a split second that he'd listened to B'Elanna more when she was talking about her work. He had had other things on his mind in the rare moments they managed to spend together. He reached the control room to find it bathed in darkness but more or less intact. He looked at the grid. He suspected he knew what was wrong but was trying frantically to no avail to remember how to fix it. An ironic laugh escaped his mouth. Chief engineer for a girlfriend and he didn't know what to do.

He shook his head , trying to focus. Thinking about B'Elanna was the last thing he needed. Things were bad. Very bad. In his relationship with her, not to mention his current situation. To tell you the truth he wasn't even sure if he had the right to call her his girlfriend any longer.

"Voyager to Delta flyer." It was Chakotay's voice this time. "We have a lock on your biosignatures, preparing to transport."

There was a shudder. Then a bang. Everything went black.

Janeway grabbed the side of her chair to steady herself as the vessel shook violently. "Damage report."

She turned to look at Harry, taking her eyes off the screen for only a second. He opened his mouth but was interrupted before he could say anything by the familiar tone of her comm. Badge.

"Transporter room 1 to the Captain. We have a problem."

Janeway squeezed her eyes tightly shut and grimaced, not entirely sure she wanted to hear what she was about to be told. "Go ahead."

"The signal appeared to be intercepted. We only managed to retrieve Commander Tuvok."

Janeway dropped her head and looked at the floor. The ship shook one last time and everything was still.

"Captain?" Harry's brow furrowed. "I've lost the Delta Flyer. There is no evidence of any trace. None of the long range scanners can detect a thing, it's like it's just vanished out of the sky."


End file.
